Mars, Incorporated, the company that owns Snickers among many other iconic food brands such as Twix, Ben’s Original and Dolmio has responded to online rumours that it was removing the so-called “d*ck vein” from its Snickers bar. Didn’t expect this when you woke up this morning, did you?
On 16 April 2022, Twitter user @JUNIPER shared a screenshot of a Time Out article’s headline that read “Snickers are officially caving and removing the world renowned dick vein from the candybar.” In that same thread, the user then said, “Society is quickly losing so much culture to cancel culture with how it is.” But it was the user’s third tweet that truly went viral—a picture of a completely smooth Snickers bar followed by the caption, “It’s already beginning.”
At first, the removal of the world-famous ridge was rumoured to be due to public outcry, however, it seems it may have been just that—a rumour. According to the fact-checking website Snopes, the curious case of the smooth Snickers bar “may have been the result of chocolate melting and then reforming, a manufacturing error, or some other cause.” On further investigation, the Time Out article from 4 February 2022 had nothing to do with the removal of the vein, but was instead to do with Snickers being New York’s favourite chocolate bar.
The origins of this bizarre viral rumour date back to January 2022, when CBS reported on Mars’ announcement that it was redesigning the green M&M to make it more inclusive in a “more dynamic, progressive world.” After making fun of the unnecessary change, the internet saw a rise in jokes about the desexualisation of other sweets including the Snickers bar, with Twitter user @MichaelChu7 posting “If they are desexualising the Green M&M it’s only a matter of time before they remove the d**k vein from Snickers 😔.”
On 19 April, much to everyone’s solace, Snickers broke its silence on vein-gate and took to Twitter to put our fears to rest, reassuring us that “contrary to what’s trending on Twitter…THE VEINS REMAIN!!!”
So, there you have it folks. We can all rest easy tonight, safe in the knowledge that our favourite phallic chocolate bar is here to stay. What a relief, eh?